Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Brown, I am never provocative. Everyone knows that. Many of the changes in the bill flow from majority recommendations made by the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters as part of its inquiry into the 2004 election, chaired very ably by the member for Casey, Mr Smith. As you know, I am a member of that committee. The joint committee’s report confirmed that Australia has a very good electoral system but one that can and should be further improved. The bill was referred to the Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, which I chair, and the committee reported on it in March. The committee’s inquiry into the bill received 52 submissions from members of the public and organisations and heard from 19 witnesses at a public hearing.

I want to cover five principal issues that my colleagues have mentioned this morning so far in this debate. First of all, there is the early closure of the electoral roll. A vital change to the electoral system is the bringing forward of the period for the closure of the electoral roll—a change that the government hopes will limit the scope for electoral fraud. Measures such as this, which are designed to strengthen and protect the integrity of the roll, are essential for upholding Australia’s democratic system or, indeed, people’s belief in Australia’s democratic system. The perception is important. This is axiomatic. While there are concerns—and I have heard the debate this morning—that people may forget to fulfil their obligations and register to vote, the Australian Electoral Commission has indicated it will conduct public awareness campaigns and remind people about electoral enrolment. This will go a long way to countering any possible unintended consequences of an earlier closure of the roll.

I usually do not read the Age, but I did read the clips earlier this week—